FIG. 1 is a perspective view for illustrating the structure and manufacturing method of conventional coaxial connector. The conventional coaxial connector shown in FIG. 1 is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,668 assigned to Hirose Electric Co., Ltd. and entitled “L-Shaped Coaxial Connector and Terminal for the Same”.
The conventional coaxial connector is comprised of a terminal 10, a dielectric block 20, and an outer conductor 30. Pluralities of terminals 10 are made from a metal strip so as to be coupled with a carrier 11 at regular intervals. Each terminal 10 has a connection section 12 and a contact section 13. The central conductor C4 of a cable C is soldered to the flat portion 12A of the connection section 12 and the terminal is cut off from the carrier 11 at a separation line 14. The dielectric block 20 is made of a molding of a dielectric material so as to provide a cylindrical portion section 21, a shoulder section 22 extending radially from the upper portion of the body section 21, and an inner cover section 23 extending upward from a position diametrically opposite to the shoulder section 22. The body section 21 has a central cavity 24 therein to accommodate the contact section 13 of the terminal 10 and an upper face 25 to support the connection section 12 of the terminal 10. The dimension of the inner cover section 23 is such that when it is bent, the inner cover section 23 is accommodated in the area of the upper face 25. The outer conductor 30 is made from a metal sheet so as to provide a cylindrical section 31 and an outer cover section 32. The cylindrical section 31 has such a dimension as to accommodate the body section 21 to form an annular space between them for receiving the outer conductor of a mating connector therein. An enclosure section 33 extends laterally from the cylindrical section 31 to surround the sides of the shoulder section 22. The outer cover section 32 has a flat cover portion 32D for covering the tubular section 31 and holding sections 32C and 32B deformed to hold the jacket C1 and the shield wire C2, respectively, when the outer cover 32 is bent toward the cylindrical section 31 at a narrowed base portion 32A. Between the holding sections 32C and 32B and the flat cover section 32D, a pair of tabs 32E are provided, which are to be bent at grooves 32F so as to hold the bottom of the shoulder section 22.
The conventional connector shown in FIG. 1 is manufactured by sequentially soldering the central conductor C4 of the coaxial cable C to the terminal 10, coupling the soldered structure to the dielectric block 20 and outer conductor 30, and holding the coaxial cable C by the outer conductor 30.
In the conventional coaxial connector, the terminal (also referred to as “pin”) is too small (for instance, the length of the pin is no more than 1.5 mm to 2.0 mm), and thus the soldering operation of the central conductor of the coaxial cable to the pin is extremely difficult that demands great caution and minute attention. Further, the components consisting of the coaxial connector are very small in size and assembling thereof is difficult. Moreover, the components itself cannot be provided to the users but must be provided in the finished connector product, because the coaxial cable has to be soldered first. If the users are provided with the components for the connector, they may customize the coaxial connector to suit their needs by e.g., changing the length of the coaxial cable. Further, the providers of the components are advantageous in that the process is made simple and production cost can be reduced.
Moreover, for using the UFL type connectors of small sized in high frequency devices such as mobile telephones, wireless telecommunication devices, electronic measuring equipments and GPSs, improved electrical isolation characteristics, exact impedance matching, signal integrity and enhanced propagation properties are needed.